In Iannetta, the Angels acquire an above average starter at a thin position. He fits perfectly with the new regime, and signals a change in philosophy that the Angels sorely needed. By acquiring Chatwood, the Rockies must hope there's some growth left in his arm. Though he's still young, Chatwood's performance last season was not promising, and he looks like a back-end starter at best.

Iannetta is under contract for $3.55 million this coming season. This trade apparently voids a 2013 club option, meaning Iannetta could become a free agent after the year. At that point, I don't know, maybe it'll be time for Hank Conger. Or more Chris Iannetta. Or more Jeff Mathis. Who's to say! You and I are not to say.

Iannetta is not Napoli. His production is contingent on drawing walks, something he has done in more than 12 percent of his plate appearances in each of his five full seasons. In this day, teams should be able to stomach deflated batting averages if the secondary skills are there, particularly from an offense-challenged position, and Iannetta is a good litmus test for their constitutions. As ugly as his .225 average (since 2009) is, the .349 on-base percentage and .198 isolated power should make up for it

The Rockies, meanwhile, get Chatwood, who has arm strength and a plus curveball that won't break as well in Coors Field, and who has to work to get downhill plane on his fastball. He didn't belong in the big leagues in 2011 -- ex-Angels GM Tony Reagins' legacy just looks worse with each passing day -- and his performance there was awful, with nearly a walk per strikeout, and it could have been worse had he not made half his starts in spacious Angel Stadium. Maybe Chatwood will find success in Colorado's bullpen, but he didn't necessarily project as a starter in Anaheim, and his repertoire and lack of control don't project as well in Denver.

In a sense, it looks like Tony Reagins continues to curse the team by making this deal (or one like it) necessary. Couldn't the Angels have signed the similarly meh Ramon Hernandez — as the Rockies are said to be doing — without taking the hit to their starting rotation? Why does Jerry Dipoto suddenly start to look a lot like Tony Reagins?

This seems more like a “win now” move when the Angels aren't really in a position to win now. The better long-term move would have been to just dump Mathis and pick up something serviceable from the free-agent ash heap, like Jose Molina or Ryan Doumit. Those options are gone now. I wasn't a believer in Chatwalk, but even if he's only capable of holding the final spot in a rotation, five more years of slightly sub-average starting pitching is still a lot to trade for one year of Chris Ianetta. Maybe I'll feel differently if he doesn't void his player option.

Going from Coors Field to Anaheim will be a bit of a shock to the system (he had massive home-road splits last season, though that wasn't the case in previous years), but he'll definitely benefit from not hitting in front of the pitcher every night, as was the case in Tracy's lineup.

In six seasons at Coors Field, he averaged about 10 dingers and just under 40 RBI at a batting average of .235. All that potentialbop in a bat he kept glued to his shoulder, or waved feebly at tumbling sliders. Other teams clearly could see what the guy should be capable of, as clearly as the Rox were beginning to see that yet another “catcher of the future” simply wasn't worth waiting around for anymore.

My money is this will be a lot closer to best case scenario for the Angels, though there is still one mitigating circumstance we haven't discussed yet: Hank Conger. Does this mean the Angels are giving up on him? It very well could. Iannetta is good enough to catch 115+ games in a season, so Conger may not have a role in the majors this year. That means they could send Hank packing or just send him back to Triple-A to work on his defense and then challenge Iannetta in 2013. Or, since Iannetta mashes lefty but is more ordinary against righties, the switch-hitting Conger could platoon with Iannetta, though I find it hard to believe they gave up a prospect like Chatwood for a part-time player. We won't know the answer to this part of the trade for awhile yet, but don't be at all surprised if Conger's name starts being prominently mentioned in trade rumors at the Winter Meetings.

While still crazy young, I'm afraid we've already seen the Chatwood of the future. If his command issues aren't corrected, it's likely Chatwood spends his future in the bullpen. ... Catcher is an obvious need and I'd love to give Iannetta a shot. I wouldn't trade Chatwood for him but it's closer than you might think.

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